The Allegwi

[Linda]

A Mingo Seneca gentleman from PA, Gerald Dietz, wrote the following the other day to the Mingo-EGADs list.


According to our tradition, the Alligewi were Siouxian speaking people, and when they were defeated by our Iroquois people and the Lenape allies, they fled down the Mississippi River to their relatives. The Alligewi became the Biloxi and Kickapoo and later moved back up the Mississippi River and became the Omahas and still later other Siouxian people. Some of the Alligewi escaped over the mountains to the upper Potomac River and migrated down to become the Saponi of VA and NC. That's our tradition and that's the way I learned it. I believe it and no matter what the "books say" I think it's right.

[Forest]

Well, I guess that settles that.

[itconani]

who exactly are the "Mingo"?
my understanding is that "mingo" is a deritive from Proto Algonquian 'menkwew'
(derivatives: manquas, mingo, mangoage,mandoag) and simply means enemy or foreign groups.
aside from the exciting confusion listed above, what more can someone shed on this term?

[Linda]

The people I know who call themselves that live in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. They define Mingo as any Iroquois living outside of League territory. They use this word to describe the dialect they spoke/speak, which could just as well be called Appalachian Iroquois. It has also been used loosely to describe any of the many tribes who were in league with the League, so to speak. The academic world seems to snigger at the term. A fine friend of mine spent several years preserving and perpetuating this dialect only to have his work dismissed because "there are no Indians in WV." All of which many of the Indians in WV would say is exactly the impression they set out to create.

In historic texts you may find reference to White Mingo or Minqua, who I believe are the Susquehanna. The Black Mingo or Minqua I am told originally referred to the Erie, who were largely absorbed into the Seneca population, some of whom, according to a "Mingo" friend, later un-absorbed themselves into the mountains.

[Forest]

I'd be interested in reading this fellow's work on the Mingo. Is it a language, or a dialect of English? Has he published anything that could be shared? I'll have to admit, that apart from the "Guineas" of WV, and a few scattered families here and there,(1880 Census counted 29 Indians in WV, total)I had never heard of this community, and would like to know more

[Linda]

Well, this is easy, just click here:
http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/egads/mingo/

and you can find out all anybody needs to know about the Mingo language. It's been fully recorded and set out in convenient on-line lessons. You'll find it very close to Seneca, arguably less influenced by English than the Seneca language has been, due to the seclusion of the Mingo mountain people.

Towards the bottom of the page you'll find a link to the mingo e-list subscription page:
http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/egads/mingo/mingo-l.html

The language informant for the Mingo dialect is Dr. Thomas McElwain, professor of comparative religions, currently working in London. He learned the language as a child in Elkins, WV. He's published one or two books on that community. Also on the list is Barbara Mann, who wrote the "Encyclopedia of the Seneca." There are a number of other very learned people on the list, and the conversation is usually very stimulating. The gentleman I mentioned above acts as a kind of elder, and has brought a great deal of wisdom and caring to the site. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

BTW, Barbara takes exception to the use of the word "Mingo" since, as you say, it has negative origins, but she is from much the same kind of isolated Seneca community in Ohio, outside the bounds of the tribe.